Gold Climbs to Four-Week High on Dollar’s Drop and Haven Demand

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gold climbed to a four-week high as a weaker dollar and uncertainty over the impact of Donald Trump’s policies bolstered demand for a haven. Palladium rose, heading for the biggest five-day surge since November.

Bullion has increased every trading session this year, with spot prices rising as much as 1.4 percent to $1,179.43 an ounce on Thursday. Gold is advancing as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index’s retreat from the highest in more than a decade.

Gold is recovering from the biggest quarterly slump since 2013 as minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest meeting released Wednesday showed uncertainty over how President-elect Trump’s policies would affect the pace of interest-rate increases.

The Fed minutes “made the dollar bulls wary,” Naeem Aslam, the chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K. Ltd., said in an e-mail.

“Too many pieces are moving together, which are creating the biggest threat for globalization and integration,” he said. “This makes the yellow metal highly attractive and we think it has a strong potential to break the resistance of $1,200.”

Most on the Federal Open Market Committee reiterated that a “gradual” pace of rate hikes over the coming years would likely remain appropriate.

“Last night’s Fed minutes highlighted the uncertainty that still prevails,” saidJonathan Butler, a precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp. in London. “Expectations of aggressive rate hikes in 2017 may be overdone, leaving the yield environment favorable to gold.”

Bullion for immediate delivery was up 1.3 percent at $1,178.52 at 9:51 a.m. in New York, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The Bloomberg dollar gauge dropped as much as 0.8 percent.

Palladium gained 0.7 percent to $743.25 an ounce in the spot market, extending its 11 percent rise in the previous four days. Prices advanced amid improving outlook for demand from carmakers, which use the metal to curb harmful emissions.